The perils of gardening catalogues

[Louisepenygraig]

I've just received my first seed catalogue of the season so I'm flicking through planning all the things I'm going to grow next year! That's in spite of the fact I haven't managed to grow very much successfuly for a couple of years now as I never have the right amount of energy at the right time. Either the seeds don't get sown at all or, if they do, they then die from lack of water or weeding or whatever. Mail order plants stay in their boxes too long or if planted out suffer the same fate as the seedlings. But next year will be different.... won't it?? Hope springs eternal

[scats]

I SO identify with this, and so many things failed because because my capabilities did not coinside with the right weather...... and then I had to let OH do the pruning! The marks of PMR will remain on our garden for years.

You are right... next year will be different!

[maria40 in reply to scats]

Can sympathise with that. I had to get a so-called gardener to do my pruning. Forsythia now looks like a punk with a lop sided mohican - heaven knows what it will look like when it flowers. I'm tempted to buy bulbs for spring but realistically I know I can't bend down to put them in so would be better buying them potted next year but will miss the joy of watching for the first green shoots.

[scats in reply to maria40]

My trained apple tree has three branches one side and two the other. It looks rediculous what was he thinking?

[Grants148]

I know just how you feel Louise,l have spent most of today out in my garden trimming rose bushes and planting bulbs.l have to put netting over the bulbs to stop the squirrels digging them out.l am shattered now,and that was only the front garden ! I cannot resist plants for sale on the market but sometimes they are left too long before l replant them,and are ‘root bound’ in their flowerpots by the time l feel like re planting them.

[Louisepenygraig in reply to Grants148]

'Gardening' for me these days is often no more than transplanting one or two plants into the garden. It sounds as if you've done quite a bit.

[Hidden]

YEEEESSSSSS! Next year will be different Louise. Keep the garden rocking! You know you love it! Keep that fantasy going! ATB

[bunnymom in reply to Hidden]

I knew you would say that ❤️

[SheffieldJane]

I have planted 100 daffodils that will bloom when I am in Australia ho hum!

[Hidden in reply to SheffieldJane]

It's the thought that counts!!

[scats in reply to SheffieldJane]

Then there's the next year, and the next...... and remember they get better every year!

[bunnymom in reply to SheffieldJane]

You neighbors will thank you Jane.🌷 Tulip was the best picture I could find!

[Louisepenygraig in reply to SheffieldJane]

They'll look nice for your neighbours!

[Rimmy]

Not boasting - well maybe a wee bit - I pulled out 4 huge wheelbarrows of weeds yesterday - only thing is I now have some achy bits that I had long forgotten - but recent tapering is reminding me I am becoming an 'older' gardener !! Just hope when I expire it will be in the garden - where else !!??

🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼

[bunnymom in reply to Rimmy]

Great way to go. Asleep on my deck under the umbrella admiring my yard.

[Louisepenygraig in reply to Rimmy]

Wow! That's a lot of weeding

[CT-5012]

Planted three big pots of bulbs this afternoon with OH’s help, gardeners can always be relied on to be optimistic. 😊

[Hindags]

Do you think there is something infectious in the soil that creates PMR/GCA? So many of us here with a true passion for growing things. I have 8 avocado trees on a special drip system, in partial shelter, going on 2.5 years now. Grown from seed. Started at age 74. What was I thinking? Will I live to see any fruit? Will they even be fruit bearing? Talk about optimism.

[Zofitmogelijk in reply to Hindags]

but how rewarding must that be, to see those plants grow. My son planted a walnut tree some 20 years ago, and this year - for the first time - it gave nuts, counted them; 50. Almost gave up to expect it. Is it not what gardening is about, seeing the whole process and accepting what works. for example, I am so fond of wisteria chinensis but they don,t want to grow in my garden, and had to give up eventually after 3 attempts. life itself.

[Rimmy in reply to Hindags]

Hello Hindags - fellow gardener

I am sure gardening never made anyone 'sick' but if it did it would be a rarity I think - maybe tetanus ... Anyway love that you are growing avocados. There were two huge very old avocado trees in the orchard we started 'reviving' three years ago and one of the trees has given us dozens of fruit. The other is I think the 'A' or is it the 'B' you need one of each to 'reproduce' - not sure but we have also sprouted some from seeds - although I believe they can take several years to produce fruit - the grafted ones are a bit 'quicker' I think. They ARE worth waiting for though. I was also surprised to find we had pistachio trees - a pair in the orchard to and have had quite a few bowls of nuts. This year the apricots are looking good as well as a white peach and some wonderful plums. I'm NEVER giving up fresh 'organic' fruit - despite the 'carbs' - because I'm sure it IS good for us !!!

X

[scats in reply to Rimmy]

There really is something special about growing your own fruit. I grow all the usual british things but do like to push the boundries a bit to see what else I can grow, havn't tried avocado yet beyond a stone in a pot but I do have lemons, grapes, olives, passion fruit, peaches, almonds and apricots in sheltered positions. (and fingers tightly crossed!)

I love the idea that in the future someone will be enjoying the fruits (and nuts) of my labours!

[Louisepenygraig in reply to scats]

We usually just about enough fruit to last the two of us through the year but this year the prolongued drought meant most of the eating apple trees didn't produce anything, we had no summer raspberries and very few black currants.

[scats in reply to Louisepenygraig]

Same here, only the quince did well. Grapes would have done well were it not for botrytis. The whole cycle is exciting whether or not the crop is good, thats the bonus. I'm just grateful we don't have to survive on what we grow!

[Hindags]

My favorite American folk hero as a young girl was Johnny Appleseed. He gathered seeds of different varieties of apples from our Eastern Coast and distributed them throughout the country.

Years ago we had a nectarine at our first home. Our neighbor had transplanted it into our yard where it flourished. The fruit was unique and delicious. I took branches to a local orchard and had them grafted onto five more trees. I kept one and gave the others as gifts. Then I saw that a volunteer grew from a pit and bred true so I started throwing seeds into pots on the side of our house. I had more trees to give away. Sadly when we moved we lost touch with those trees. But it still feels good when I think that that stock lives on.

At our current home we have an apple tree. The fruit is really special. I think I might have to repeat the cycle.

[Zofitmogelijk in reply to Hindags]

O I love that story.

[Hollyseden in reply to Hindags]

Love that story too 😊

[Louisepenygraig in reply to Hindags]

That's lovely. So good that it bred true from seed

[CT-5012]

About 40 years ago my niece was helping my mother take down the Christmas decorations and pushed a small piece of holly (which had been in the house for two weeks) into the garden announcing that she had planted a holly tree. To everyone’s surprise it grew, berries from this tree have since grown into bushes in my and my daughter’s gardens and this year we have berries for the first time. 😁

[Louisepenygraig in reply to CT-5012]

That was lucky. What a lovely story

[Valnvaughan]

We have redesigned our seafront, windy garden. Soil was poor so nothing grew. Bought recycled railway sleepers on eBay. Have constructed, using levers and rollers like Builders of centuries ago, three raised beds........fruit, vegetables and salad, and one for potatoes. Well, he has built and I have watched, phone in hand with 999 on speed dial. But all done. Have invited neighbours to fill holes with green waste from autumn clearing, then we’ll buy topsoil. Yesterday ordered seeds......so yes, better next year.

Valerie

[bunnymom]

My page would be turned to flowers. I have all kinds of seed starting kits I bought marked down. Seedlings do need quite a bit of looking after so we will see if I really end up with anything come Spring. Trying a small fall greenhouse to extend the growing season for veggies for my bunnies. Sometimes I forget to open it after a cold night and it's 100 degrees by afternoon. Oh well.

[Louisepenygraig in reply to bunnymom]

I generally grow (or try to) vegetables and when I add up the cost of the seeds and plants and the very small yield obtained they're probably the most expensive veg we ever have!

[bunnymom in reply to Louisepenygraig]

My experience exactly but I love the journey.

[Grants148]

I have a lot of bulbs l need to plant but a squirrel keeps taking them,goodness knows what he does with them.l shall know in the spring if he has planted them somewhere else in the garden,unless he has eaten them all !

[Hidden]

A familiar story here! Plus Hazel nuts being buried everywhere!